


Death and the Fair One

by LunaoftheBlueMoon01



Category: Norse Mythology - Neil Gaiman, Norse Religion & Lore, Thor (Comics), Thor (Movies), Vikings (TV), Vikings (TV) RPF
Genre: Asgard, Balder's death, F/M, Fun little musings, Hel and Balder, Misunderstood, Niflheim, Non canon love, Odin being a dick, Ragnarok, Sibling Love, The children of Loki, death and the fair, no maidens here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-12
Updated: 2019-11-29
Packaged: 2020-12-13 18:29:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21002216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaoftheBlueMoon01/pseuds/LunaoftheBlueMoon01
Summary: The fates are never kind none more so that to the only daughter of the trickster god Loki. The most underestimated of all his children she would soon prove herself to all the gods that she is the most dangerous of them all. Hel from the Norse myths not the Marvel movies.





	1. Chapter 1

The day had been perfect, as much as any day of her childhood could be. The youngest of the offspring of the trickster Loki and the giantess Angrboda had spent her early years among the mountains her mother called home. Even after all these years she still remembered that day, remembered the feel of the warm sun on her pale skin, the cool breeze blowing her dark hair. But more than anything she remembered that day because it was the day the men of Odin came for them.

Her eldest brother the great serpent Jormungandr was wrapped around her middle, he lightly squeezed her under his powerful muscles. Her snake brother stood taller than her even while standing. Jormugandr also made excuses to be near her, especially on their trips to the large river that ran through the mountain, he was deadly afraid of water and preferred to stay with her on the bank of fresh flowers. Fenrir, on the other hand, couldn’t get enough of the water, he enjoyed paddling through its wild currents unfazed. Her wolfish brother broke the water, a gleaming fish thrashing in his jaws. He gulped it down in with a satisfied smile on his lips and jumped from the water, pools dripping from his thick dark fur. Fenrir though the middle child was the biggest, he dwarfed his siblings and stood to the shoulders of their giantess mother. He shook his massive body spraying water all over them, Jormungandr recoiled around her, squeezing her tight that bruises formed on her soft blue flesh. Like her monstrous brothers, Hel herself was not spared in the days after her birth, the right side of her body started to discolour to a greyish blue and cold to the touch. The other half of her body looked like that of a normal child but the corruption in her body cause even the alive side of her body to bruise easily. She pulled a wildflower free from the soil and caused it to rot in her hands, she could do if she willed it so.

The large wolf placed his head in her lap, looking up at her with his dark blue eyes. She scratched his head at the spot in between his ears that she knew he liked, her brother’s eyes began to grow heavy. Their mother had left them by the river and went to gather some wild herbs as she had done a hundred times before. The siblings were perfectly content in her absence, after all, they knew they weren’t far beside apart from the four of them no other giants lived in the valley. Jormungandr was the first to feel that something was wrong, the tiny vibrations in the ground rattled along his skin. The snake raised his head in the direction of the hill, a moment later the soldiers appeared. Their gleaming armour blinded the children. Jormungandr wrapped his tail tighter around his sister’s leg, venom dripping from his fangs. Fenrir jumped in front of his siblings, his fur brisked making him look bigger than he was. His howl bounced among the valley, sending the message to their mother but Hel knew it would take too long. The men were bigger than the three of them, but not by much and their swords were long and sharp. Fenrir rumbled low and Jurmungandr coiled ready to strike, Hel now bare of her brothers reach her blue hand towards the grass and spread the rot towards the soldiers.

“No need to fight young ones. We are hereby the request of the Allfather to invite you to Asgard.” The leader said though he did not lower his blade.

“We must wait for our mother before we go anywhere,” Jormungandr hissed.

“She knows we are here, she will follow.” The children shared a look. The leader’s fingers glowed a little, the snake strikes, his poisonous jaws just missing the leader’s arm as he was wrapped in chains that covered him from nose to tail. Their brother hit the ground with a thud, he still struggled again the thick chains but each move he made only caused those thick iron cords to tighten against him. Fenrir jumped at the small group of men, jaws wide and strings of drool swinging from long gleaming teeth. The leader sidestepped at the last moment, sending her brother into another, Fenrir immediately ripped his throat out before he could scream. He turned towards her, blood dripping down his chin as the bars of a cage appeared around him. Hel willed whatever power she had inside her to spread the rot towards the captors. It only spread out in a weak circle around her, turning the green grass to grey. Once the leader realized she didn’t pose him a threat he carefully came towards her, not stepped into the circle of death that surrounded her.

“Come now,” he said, " there is no need for such commotion. In Odin’s halls, you will be treated well you have nothing to fear from us.” She didn’t trust him, she didn’t need to see the tense muscles of her captive brothers to know that. But what choice did she have? they had fought and they had lost.

The journey over the rainbow bridge was short and painless, Hel had been loaded onto a cart pulled by a large grey goat. She sat as close as she could to Fenrir as the cool bars would allow, she snaked her fingers into his shaggy brown fear, standing up on a point in fear, while Jormungdr laid his head in her lap, only his green eyes visible through the chains that bound him straight and long. She looked for one last time at the valley, the long river, the green fields closer to grey and muddy tracks of giants long since gone. It faded from her like a candle being snuffed out. She had no idea if their mother was already waiting for them in Asgard? If not it was doubtful she would ever see her again, only those with Aesir blood could travel the rainbow bridge. Any other creature had to rely on being in the company of the Aesir to travel as they were now. She didn’t if she processed too much giantess blood to travel, may perhaps she would be trapped is Asgard forever.

It was beautiful when they arrived, the realm of the Aesir was as beautiful as she imagined. Bright fields of wheat and flowers in every colour spread out to the horizon, they looked so inviting you could easily find yourself lost among their petals. Their path had become smoother as the goat was no longer pulling the cart through the mud, instead the roads of Asgard were straight and tiled with pebbles joined close together they looked like one large stone. A large wall cut through the greenery, a large sturdy thing made of many stones that brimmed with magic that any original Jotun would have trouble breaking. At first, there looked to be no gate of which to speak, just the same stone pattern encircling. As the cart got closer, however, a long wooden gate glimmered in the sunlight and invisible hands pulled them open. Once passed the wall Hel seen the most sight she had ever seen. The shining halls of Asgard. They glowed like gold in the sunlight, large straight towers that touched the blue sky. To her childish eyes, the many sprawling manors seemed to give off their own light like the sun itself. It burnt her eyes at first and she used her hand to block its rays from her eyes; one the same blue as her brothers, the other a blind white.

Their captors did not give them much time to admire their new home and rushed them to Valhalla as quick as that old goat would carry them, which was surprisingly fast for the size of the thing. Hel hadn’t loosened her grip on either brother the whole journey and was determined not to now. The Aesir gave them no choice though, the leader pulled her free from her monstrous brothers, in the process she ripped a handful of fur from her wolf brother. He howled and the sky itself shuddered. She was marched into the throne room of the Allfather, everywhere around her gleamed like water and reflected her own monstrous face back to her, wet tears covered both cheeks, she roughly wiped them from her cheeks with her shelve. The assortment of gods stared at them as they entered, all beautiful faces that held a cruel edge. Hel scanned them all one by one, looking for that one face.

The great Odin sat atop his golden throne, his twin ravens cawed at them, large black eyes gleamed at them as if they held a bit of their master’s soul. The Allfather’s face was lined like an old tree that swirled around the black hole of his missing eye. His hair and bread were long, covering his shoulder in a grey shawl. Despite looking like an old man, the power radiated off him. There at his side, Hel finally saw the face she was looking for; her father Loki.

“Step forward children, there is nothing to fear,” Odin spoke, Hel looked to Loki but his face gave her nothing. The guards pulled through Fenrir in his cage while another carried the chained Jormungandr over his shoulders, the guard's face contoured in pain under the weight of her brother. The breath of all the gods struck in their throats as Hel’s dark hair moved to show the dead half of her face, cheekbones white behind a thin piece of blue skin. She could still see out of her dead white eye although they didn’t know that, she was able to watch their disgust faces in secret, see the looks they shared between them and her father.

“Where is our mother?” Jormungandr hissed, poison dipped from his fangs.

“She remains in Ironwood. I requested you here so I may look upon you myself.”

“Now you have, send us back to her.” He said, but Odin wasn’t listening, his one eye looked at them all individually as if he could see every cell in their bodies.

“Come now, where are your manners? We only want to show you our hospitality.” He banged his staff; the words were now an order not to be challenged. Despite her young age, Hel knew the simple life of her girlhood was over.


	2. Chapter 2

Hel Lokidotter didn’t blend in with the other children. The fair children of Asgard frolicked in the ever-present sun, rosy-cheeked and bright smiles. She felt like a weed among the roses, ready for someone to pick her up and squash her underfoot. She didn’t care for their games, instead, she sat with Jormungandr wrapped around under the biggest tree she could find, reading a scroll she had stolen from their father’s chambers. She struggled with the symbols, an old language long since dead, they twisted and danced before her eyes, refusing to stay still for even a moment.

“What are you reading, trickster daughter?” came the musical voice of Balder, the golden-haired son of Odin, he lend against the tree above her arms crossed. Even at such a young age, Blader was the most beautiful of the gods and he knew it well. For someone cursed such as she was, it did not seem fair that her and her siblings had the forms that they did, serpent, wolf and her a body better suited for the grave than the halls of the gods while the son of Frigga carried all of the words beauty in the damned smile of his.

“Nothing Odinson.” Jormungandr remained asleep, not bothered by the new visitor, in the short months they had been brought here, her snake brother had almost doubled in size, Fenrir wasn’t far behind him. It was unknown how big they would get, would she grow too to be a large as them? Maybe one day she could be so big to simply step back home.

“It doesn’t look like nothing, what do these strange symbols mean? Are you a volur too?” She had found it hard to dislike him.

“Father left it out, I wanted to see what all the fuss was about.”

“And?”

“I can’t read it.”

“Maybe my mother would be able to. Or father, although he might not be happy we have this or let’s go to The Head. I bet he could read it,” he said in very little time.

“I don’t want to see ‘The Head,’” her nose crinkled, at least the part that could move.

“Does it hurt?” he asked pointing to the blue side of her face.

“No. It sometimes feels like when you sleep on your arm and it’s like that moment before the feeling comes back. Numb.” He nodded slowly.

“Can I touch that part of you?” he whispered, eyes bright with curiosity.

“If you’d like,” she shrugged. She had taken to wearing dresses with long shelves to hide that side of her. Gently he pulled up her shelve, revealing the blue skin peppered with long black veins that stood away from the skin. He followed one down her arm with his warm fingertips like the spring sun melting the winter snow. It tickled when he reached her wrist and Jormundangr opened his eyes at his sister’s laughter. He looked up at her, he did not need to speak, these eyes said all the words need: Beware the Odinson.

“Urgh Balder, you’re touching it,” Magni said, a gathering of children now stood around them. Balder quickly withdrew his hand.

“Balder is unclean, his flesh is going to turn black and fall off,” one of Freyja’s daughters cried, Hel pulled down her shelve trying to hide her arm from them. Jormungandr slipped from her body, allowing her to stand, he stood as tall as her but his massive tail still trailed behind him. She held the scroll tight to her body and together they left the gardens just in time that the children couldn’t see the tears running down her living cheek.

*** 

“Do you think we’ll ever go home?” she asked Jormungandr over dinner, their father didn’t join them tonight, he had plans elsewhere. Loki hadn’t been best pleased with their arrival, his little secret laid bare before the other gods for them to laugh and point at the demon spawn of the trickster.

“You were with Balder again,” he hissed.

“He talked to me first, as always.”

“Why do you think he does that?”

“He thinks me a freak like the others.”

“Be careful Hel, you know nothing happens here without Odin’s knowledge or approval.”

“You think he put his own son up to it? He’s a child.”

“I would not put it past him. You should not see him again,” he had the same tone as mothers, it was an order, not a suggestion. He said it like she was the one to seek Balder out when all she had done was read under a tree.

Her oldest brother shook so much that the little table shook with him, green scales gleaming like they did when he was afraid. He had been paranoid from the moment Odin had dismissed them from the Great Hall their first day. The three shared connecting chambers, almost most nights they fell asleep in her chamber; especially that first night, all wrapped around each other just as they had every night in their mother’s house. Jormungandr reminded them every chance he could, to not trust the Aesir or the Vanir.

“Something is going to happen Hel, I don’t know what or when but I can feel it in my scales.”

“Something with Balder?”

“I don’t know, but I know it has something to do with us, something will happen to us.”

His words kept her awake most of the night. Something already had happened to them, they had been ripped from their mother, wasn’t that enough? What could happen that was worse than that? She tried not to think of it as she heard the paws pad against her floor. Fenrir drove under the covers, his fur warm and long to the touch although his claws drew blood from her living flesh. She heeled quickly from the wound as she clung to him, knowing by morning he would be gone again. He spent most of his time with Tyr, they would fish, hunt and play together from breakfast till bedtime. Hel missed his company when he was gone, his wet nuzzles, his rough tongue against her good cheek, the softness of his fur after she had brushed the tangles from it. Despite his appearance, those that met him were quickly won by his affection personality. Like their mother, he wanted to please others and make them smile, holding him in her arms Hel hoped Tyr made their brother smile too.

Like every other day, true to her word she awoke alone. The dark fallen hairs of her brother were the only evidence that he had spent the night there. She missed him, he had taken so long to settle to their new life here. He would spend night after night howling towards the sky, hoping mother could hear him over the voids of the worlds. The sounds had kept everyone up at night until one night they stopped and the silence was worse to her ears than her brother’s cries.

His first hunt with Tyr had come that day, he had returned to them just as he had been before they were parted from their mother, the happy wolf brother with the large lolling tongue. He spent most of his days with Tyr, fishing, hunting, play fighting, each day growing bigger but at nights he did not howl. Not for mother anyway, What if she forgot about them without his cries?

Loki was sat at the head of the table when Hel came down the cold, shining marble stairs, Jormungandr slithered beside her, his green scales reflecting in the marble beneath. Their father’s halls were of a good size, not as grand as Odins’ nor did it have as many rooms as Thor 540 roomed manor. It was still lovely to behold, scrolls and tomes covered most walls, each with more unreadable titles in the same symbols as the scroll she still had in her room. If Loki knew that she had stolen it (which she was sure he knew) he did not show it, but she thought if something is out in the open, is it really stealing? She knew Jormungandr would say yes and so she didn’t say anything at all.

“Where is your brother?” Loki asked when they were seated, with a wave of his hand the food appeared on the table in front of them.

“Probably with _Tyr_,” Jormungandr rolled his venom over the god’s name as if it would cause him pain.

“Ah, the war god has claimed my son as his lapdog.”

“Could you talk to him? Tell him to let our brother go.” Hel asked.

“I think it is Fenrir that needs to let him go. I shall see what I can do. I am his father but he has spent no time with me since he’s arrived."

“You are never here.” her brother reminded him. Her father’s face flashed blue at the corners, the same colour as the dead part of herself. It made her feel afraid of him for the first time in her life. Just as quickly as it had come, soon his skin was its normal colour again.

“My apologies. I had other business to attend to.”

“Why are we here?”

“The ravens found you, Mimir confirmed it and the old man wouldn’t let it go until he had you himself.”

“Why?”

“Who knows with Odin, there is a plan, but it is known only to him.”

“So we are stuck here until he has use of us.”

“Isn’t that why everyone is here. Everyone is Asgard is but a piece and Odin is the collector.”

“I don’t want to be a pice,” Hel finally added to the conversation, her voice weak compared to theirs.

“Neither do I daughter,” there was a sparkle in his eye. “But how do we change that?” he rested his head in his hands looking directly at her.

She looked around for the ravens and thought hard, but no thoughts came to her, finally defeated she admitted: “I don’t know.”

“Maybe one day. Now if you are finished you should go to the gardens, it’s a beautiful day and it would be a shame to miss it.” He popped a grape in his mouth and smiled around it, it made him look like Jormungandr when he had caught a rabbit.

“I don’t want to father,” she said. “The children are mean.”

“They are, but why should that stop you. Show them they can not threaten you. You are my children after all.” In his hand appeared the scroll she had hidden under her bed, she gently grasped it prepared for it to be a simile illusion, but it was the real deal.

So with the scroll in hand, they went for a different tree, further from the children playing in the river. They hadn’t realised how close their spot under the tree was to Odin’s vast gardens until multi-coloured petals rained down on to them, each a different colour to the other one, all together they created a rainbow. With petals in her dark hair, she stained her eyes at the scroll again, making out only one symbol. _Water._ She whispered it under her breath. The kids screamed and she looked up. She bit hard into her tongue as a long white ripple danced on the surface of the river.

Jormungandr shivered around her, even though they were far away the very idea of water was enough to send him on edge. She concentrated again and another, larger ripple splashed against the rocks. She could feel her brother’s eyes on her face, she could hear what he was going to say even without him opening his jaws: _Don’t_. She tried a third time and a small wave slapped Magni Thorson in the face. The boy turned his wet face towards, he made a show of slowly wiping the water from his face. He stalked towards her, his brothers Ulr and Modi and Balder’s twin brother Hodr following behind.

“Did you do that, trickster spawn?” she remained silent. “Are both of your ears dead. I asked you if you did that?”

“You did ask and I’m refusing to answer.”

“Do you think knowing magic makes you less of a monster, do you think it makes you one of us.” He picked up a stick and started to poke the snake armour wrapped around her torso. “It’s pathetic that you think you could be one of us.” he taunted, ending the sentence with a poke.

At this point, the children were all looking at them, while Magni continued to taunt them, poking harder now. “You’ll be nothing. You’re not even good enough to make into steed like your brother. Surprised your mother wasn’t a horse. Oh, I forgot Loki likes to be a bottom.” She had no idea what he saying, but the petals around her were withering and turning brown beneath her hand. With each poke Jormungandr’s body coiled tighter, ready to strike.

“Do you like horses too? Or is it you’re own brothers you prefer to f-” His scream stopped the taunts and the giant fangs of her snake brother were buried in his beefy arm, the stick still in his hand. The tall redhead stumbled back, his face turned green. Her brother released him and he fell, foam covering his lips. Balder appeared as if from thin air, he ordered Modi to get help as he held Magni’s convulsing body. Hel looked from the blonde god’s tense honey eyes to the triumph green eyes of her brother, blood on his fangs.

He slithered away, his tail painfully tight on her wrist as he took her with him. They hid among the trees like they did when they were children playing hide and seek with Fenrir. But this wasn’t a game and Fenrir wasn’t here. Jormungandr didn’t seem to care about the young god back in the gardens, instead, her brother slithered further into the dark trees, a smile still curved his jaws, still dripping with sticky green venom. Hel followed him just as the dutiful baby sister she always was, not sure what else to go, or what else to do. The scroll still shook in her good hand.

A rabbit that hopped by quickly became his lunch, her brother was hungry when his temper got the better of him. He moved deeper into the darkness, if he tail wasn’t still wrapped around her, she wouldn’t have been able to see him. She tried to keep up him, but where would they go? Could they really live their lives here under the nose of the Aesir? And what of Fenrir, if they did not find them what would they do to him? But what would they do to Jormungandr when they finally found them hidden in the dark trees?

As if in answer a blot of lightning brightened the sky above their heads. Had Magni died all because of a stupid prank on her end. Not that the eldest son of Thor was blameless, did his parents never teach him not to poke a snake. “I hope he’s dead.” He brother hissed, wrapping his long body around a thick old tree. He looked down at her, his head resting on a branch. With little effort, he pulled her up to sit on the branch with him. From such a height all she could see was the tops of trees stretching in all direction around them.

“Why?” she whispered as he placed his head in her lap.

“One less of them.”

“They will come for us.”

“Let them come, I have enough venom to kill them all. Even father if he gets in my way.”

The sky was dark and Hel and Jormungandr were fast asleep when they were found. Fenrir’s large nose sniffed at the ground and up the tree. He licked his sister’s cheek with his rough pink tongue, waking her from her slumber. The moment of happiness was short-lived when Tyr’s face appeared in the touch light. Jormungandr was too tired to fight although he tried and sprung for Tyr’s face, fang green with venom, Fenrir jumped onto his brother wrestling his long body in sharp fangs of his own. The wolf held the snake to the ground as Tyr secured the chains around his body. He and Freyr hauled him onto the chariot pulled by an ox, Hel grabbed a fistful of Fenrir’s fur and together they followed in behind the cart and the gods.

She didn’t release her hold on him even when they were marched to the Great Hall in which Odin held court. They were pushed up in front of the empty golden throne, while the rest of the gods filled the hall behind them. She could feel their many beautiful faces set in hatred staring at the back of her head, she dipped her head and allow her hair to shield her from them. She looked at none of them, not at the Queen, nor Magni’s parents, nor her own father stood on the other side of the dais. Instead, she focused only on her brothers. Jormungandr was on the floor beside them, the massive chains weighted him down he could make no movements.

Once the gods were all assembled, Odin made his grand entrance. The two big, black ravens with gleams in their wings healded his arrival. He moved slowly up the dais, drawing out the spectacle even more than it needed to be. He sat on his high throne, a spectre in hand just like a repeat of their first day here in the new land. His only eye moved over each of them, even without looking Hel could feel its gaze on her, she raised her head, meeting his one eye with her two, one alive and the other almost dead. Beside him, his wife Frigga’s proud face was compassionate even in resting. Standing close to the dais, Magni’s mother Sif was a blotching red-faced mess her wig of gold hair tangled with tears. Thor was red-faced with anger, his face the same colour as his rust coloured hair. His mighty hammer Mjolnir passed deadly between his huge hands.

“Jormungandr Lokison, you are accused of causing the bodily harm of Magni, son of Thor Odinson. What say you?”

“Come now All-father. They are children, children can be rough without intending to be. This trial is a little excessive, you’ll have to admit.”

“No god can hurt another without consequences. That is the law we all must uphold within these lands.”

“Intentionally cause harm to the other gods, my son did not mean to, look at him he still learning what he is and what he can do,” Loki argued.

“I did it intentionally father,” his voice was strained under the weight of the chains, but Jormungandr confession carried to each god’s ears. “He threatened me and my sister and I defended us. But I enjoyed doing it, I would do it again if needs be. When others won’t,” he fixed his gaze on their father.

“Then it is settled,” Thor shouted. “I’ll rip him to pieces.” He raised his harmer.

“Stay your hand, my son, lest you suffer the same fate as your son.”

“Then I won’t let the beast bite me.”

"Any contact with the venom is deadly to you," Odin said. 

“He will live won’t he All-father?” Sif sobbed.

“Mimir says he will live.” Hel shivered to think of the head watching them right now, knowing everything that has ever been and all that will ever be. He knew that Magni would provoke her brother and that he would, in turn, injure him. It didn’t seem fair to her, they were gods and yet still their lives were decided for them, every day mapped out on the spinners wheel long before her parents had even met one another. Even more unfair that the sister spinners only shared the information with the disembodied head of Mimir. Did they have any choice in their own lives, was her stealing the scroll even her choice at all. Or some predestined prank thought up by the three Norns at Urdarbrunnr.

“Then what will you do with him, father?” Thor boomed.

“He can’t stay here, he’s too dangerous to all of us.” Sif suddenly stopped crying enough to harden her voice. Around them, the gods muttered in agreement.

“I will take him into my care, I will ensure this does not happen again.“ Loki made a step to approach his children.

“He was already in your care and you failed to school him properly,” Freyja spoke up, the cats that pulled her chariot hissed at the family on trial.

“Enough. I have heard enough. Jormungandr son of Loki, for the crime of bodily harm to Magni Thorson freely confessed. Banishment to the waters of Midgard.” Odin banged his spear Gungnir, sending sparks off the marble floor brighter than any of Thor’s lighting. Hel felt the ice crawl in her veins. Waters of Midgard, the very thought was a knife to the chest. Beneath his chains, her brother shook violently but all it did was tighten them closer around his body. Fenrir snapped his jaws at the guards that came for their brother but a muzzle locked around them, drowning out his cries. Hel ran for her brother as the guards carried him from the hall. She thought if she could just catch him, but they were always a few steps in front of her. Even when Fenrir placed her on his back, the pair were still not fast enough. They were only two steps behind now, and the rainbow bridge gleamed in front of them. Fenrir skited to a stop, the guards and Heimdall, the gatekeeper paid them no notice. But it was too late, in front of them, the guards threw their still chained brother off the bridge into the darkness below with only Heimdall to guide him to his new watery prison. She hid her face in her brother’s face as they slowly made their way back to their father’s halls. They had never been separated before, and now their brother was sent to a place they could never go.


End file.
